Dec. 29, 2025

Predator In Plain Sight

Predator In Plain Sight
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 1

In 2012, former Modesto high school teacher James Hooker shocked the nation when he left his wife, three daughters, and his job to pursue a relationship with 18-year-old student Jordan Powers. The couple appeared on Dr. Phil and national news, defending their romance amid accusations of grooming—but the scandal quickly unraveled when a prior victim came forward, leading to Hooker's arrest and conviction for sexual misconduct with a minor from 1998.

But the story didn't end there. More than a decade later, Hooker faces new allegations of a pattern of predatory behavior. In 2024, he was arrested on charges of lewd acts with a child and possession of child pornography involving a girl he allegedly began grooming at age 15, later marrying her at 18. Tragically, the young woman—Autumn Rose—died in 2025 before she could testify.

“Exposed: Scandalous Files of the Elite” host, Jim Chapman dives deep into the full timeline of James Hooker's controversies: from the media frenzy and family devastation of 2012, to revelations of earlier offenses, and the heartbreaking recent developments that raise questions about accountability, grooming, and justice for victims. Is this a case of repeated predation, or something more complex? Jim explores the evidence, the impact on those involved, and what it reveals about power imbalances in teacher-student dynamics.

Listener discretion advised: This episode contains discussions of grooming, sexual misconduct, and child exploitation.

Timestamps
01:05 Tammie Powers Mission to Expose
04:18 Proud to appear on Good Morning America
05:32 Dr. Phil’s Tough Questions for Jordan Powers
15:07 James Hooker's Past Catches Up
22:44 Michelle Miller Speaks Out
27:42 The Fallout with Autumn Rose
29:04 Arrest and New Charges
34:08 Suspicious Timing of a Death
39:21 Reinstating Charges Against Hooker
41:02 Call for a Private Autopsy

For commercial free early releases, bonus episodes and more! https://www.patreon.com/exposedpodcastfiles

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/exposed-scandalous-files-of-the-elite--6073723/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:24.320
Hey, everyone, Welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite.

2
00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.839
I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and today I am bringing

3
00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:34.039
you one of the most infuriating, bizarre, and shocking cases

4
00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:37.320
I've ever told. And I know that's saying a lot,

5
00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:41.159
but I'm saying it. And this could be a bad

6
00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:44.119
teacher's episode, but I'm just going to release it as

7
00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:49.920
an Exposed original episode because it goes far beyond this

8
00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:56.439
person being a teacher. Now, his name is James Hooker,

9
00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:00.600
and he had at least three, in my view, appropriate

10
00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:06.640
relationships with young girls that spanned at least twenty five years.

11
00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.280
So we're going to jump right into this one, which

12
00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:14.840
really became what I would term as hyper public in

13
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:19.959
twenty twelve when a mother revealed on Facebook that her

14
00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:26.159
eighteen year old high school senior daughter was having an

15
00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:30.799
affair with her forty one year old teacher. And I

16
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:36.120
said the word of fair intentionally, because this forty one

17
00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:40.200
year old teacher he had left his wife of nearly

18
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:44.359
twenty years and their three children, with one of those

19
00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.879
children being his seventeen year old daughter for this eighteen

20
00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:53.040
year old high school senior. His name was James Hooker.

21
00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.159
Not only does he leave his entire family, he moves

22
00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.599
into a house with this eighteen year year old by

23
00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.799
the name of Jordan Powers. Now, one thing I am

24
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:08.240
absolutely certain of is that James did not count on

25
00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:12.280
the fact that Jordan's mom was one of those mothers

26
00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:15.759
like I'm sure most, if not all, of my lesteners are.

27
00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:19.639
She's one of those moms that would stop at nothing

28
00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:24.319
to expose this guy, regardless of the extent that she

29
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:27.759
had to go to, and that's just what she did.

30
00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.039
So before we get into a lot of the things

31
00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:33.639
she did to expose this, I want to tell you

32
00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:37.039
a little about James Hooker. He was born in nineteen

33
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:40.919
seventy and at this time that the relationship became public

34
00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.000
in twenty twelve, he lived and he taught in Modesto, California.

35
00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.800
He had been a teacher for quite a long time

36
00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:53.159
since nineteen ninety eight, So even though he was forty

37
00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.039
one years old when all this became public, he had

38
00:02:56.120 --> 00:03:00.159
taught for nearly twenty years, first at what is known

39
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:03.840
as Davis High School in Modesto, California, and then at

40
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.479
James Enoch High School. Now, as I said, he had

41
00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.759
been married nearly twenty years. He had three children in

42
00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:14.639
twenty twelve, and he and his family were very active

43
00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:17.879
in his church. And from the outside, this guy appeared

44
00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:22.280
very smart, very mature, if you will. He just did

45
00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:24.759
not seem like the type of God to be tied

46
00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:27.039
up into all of this. So that's a little bit

47
00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:30.479
about him. Let's get into the mother in this saga,

48
00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:33.879
whose mission, as I said, was to expose all of

49
00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:37.039
this and it really made all of the difference in

50
00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:40.800
the world. And her name at the time was Tammy Powers,

51
00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:44.919
and she brought that pain to this guy so hard,

52
00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:49.960
y'all on Facebook in twenty twelve that this story went

53
00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:53.800
national and she went through Facebook to do it. And

54
00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.280
this is twenty twelve, y'all. Facebook was not what it

55
00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:01.960
is today, but Misspowers she managed to build quite a

56
00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.960
following at that time by talking about all this, some

57
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:11.560
ten thousand followers, which today in today's numbers you will

58
00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:15.680
really equate that to one hundred thousand followers. Facebook was

59
00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.560
just not near the size in twenty twelve that it

60
00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:21.759
is today. So it became so high profile that year

61
00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:25.560
that eighteen year old Jordan Powers in the forty one

62
00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:30.279
year old James Hooker, they appear on Good Morning America.

63
00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:34.160
Hooker admitted to leaving his family because he was quote

64
00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:37.040
in love and that he knew the risk. And when

65
00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:42.000
asked if something occurred prior to Jordan turning eighteen, both

66
00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:45.879
Hooker and Jordan denied it. And he also mentioned that

67
00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:48.439
he resigned from the school at the point that he

68
00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:52.680
decided to pursue Jordan because of the optics. And he

69
00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:58.240
also said that Jordan, this eighteen year old senior, was

70
00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:02.040
his best friend in more than just a lover. How

71
00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:07.399
sweet and really this was what this initial case totally

72
00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.439
centered around. She was eighteen years old, so she was

73
00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.920
a consenting adult at the point that he left his wife.

74
00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:18.439
But the question here was how long had this relationship

75
00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:22.079
been going on? Now? Shortly after that, the couple appeared

76
00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:25.600
on what was the biggest show on TV at that time,

77
00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.160
and that was the Doctor Field Show. And this time

78
00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:34.040
someone else appeared on that show as well, Misspowers. Now,

79
00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.120
y'all know Doctor Field don't play and he brings the

80
00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:41.360
receipts right, and here he is calling out some of

81
00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:45.720
the questionable statements made by that couple on the show.

82
00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:50.480
You started a relationship with her while she was a

83
00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:51.399
student of yours.

84
00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:52.120
Correct.

85
00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:55.800
We were friends and that friendship turned into a little

86
00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:56.160
bit more.

87
00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:01.000
Yes, but you're saying that nothing inappropriate it happened, Nothing

88
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.360
that crossed a line or a barrier happened.

89
00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:05.319
Until she was eighteen, That is true.

90
00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:09.560
Yes, there were no text messages, phone calls, secret meetings,

91
00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:14.040
going to hotels, anything of that nature. No, Okay, So

92
00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:19.000
up until your birthday was on the fifth of September

93
00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.360
in twenty eleven, and you say, up until that time,

94
00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:25.079
it was just purely teacher student.

95
00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:26.000
Correct, Okay?

96
00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:27.000
Is that the truth?

97
00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:27.639
Yes?

98
00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:33.319
Yes, because it doesn't seem to be the truth. And

99
00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.399
you know, I don't know you can explain this to

100
00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:41.319
me because you turned eighteen on September fifth of twenty eleven.

101
00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.399
But on July twenty first of twenty eleven, there are

102
00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.600
five text messages between you two between two fifty four

103
00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:54.199
and two fifty seven pm. On August tenth. There's an

104
00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:58.759
incoming call from you at seven thirteen am. On the ninth,

105
00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.399
there are nine text messages between the two of you

106
00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:05.360
between nine to fifty three am and ten oh two am.

107
00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:09.560
On Friday the nineteenth, there's a picture video message received

108
00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:12.879
by you from Jordan on Saturday the third, there's a

109
00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:16.279
text message sent to Jordan at eight thirty pm, and

110
00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:20.079
then seven text messages between seven eighteen and nine thirty one.

111
00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:23.759
And I've seen the phone records that those things took place.

112
00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:25.800
So that's not what you just told me. You said

113
00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.240
up until her birthday, no meetings, no text messages, no

114
00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.360
going to the hotels, anything of the sort. And I

115
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.680
have here twenty two text messages, one picture, video message,

116
00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:39.879
and a phone call before her eighteenth birthday.

117
00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:42.959
And they were all student teacher text messages. The ones

118
00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:47.600
in August or July were just stating that I text

119
00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:49.920
him saying I have him as a teacher. I saw

120
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:55.120
my schedule. It was nothing inappropriate, it was nothing along

121
00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:56.000
the line took then.

122
00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:01.160
I'm just I'm asking because I've raised two kids and

123
00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.959
I never had this kind of contact going on between

124
00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:10.079
a teacher and student. You know, twenty two something text messages,

125
00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:12.120
phone calls, pictures.

126
00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:15.759
What were you talking about school stuff?

127
00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:17.920
I mean the ones over summer, like I said, where

128
00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:22.240
I have you as a teacher, and the other ones

129
00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:26.079
hallaween in August are when schools started just texting him

130
00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.120
like oh, like I'm going to be late to class

131
00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:30.279
because I had his number, because I had him first

132
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.639
in the summer school. I mean, he has a lot

133
00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.840
of students' numbers. It was all school related.

134
00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:39.279
I would love to know what y'all's thoughts are on

135
00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:45.080
that makes me say hmmm. Now at that point, doctor

136
00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:49.000
Field digs a little bit deeper into the relationship, and

137
00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.200
then he goes backstage because another guest was there and

138
00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:57.720
it was none other than Mama Powers herself, and he

139
00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:01.159
speaks to her initially back stage, and I want to

140
00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:02.519
play you that club.

141
00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.120
You've been watching the show up to this point, right,

142
00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:08.399
have any comments or notes on what you've seen so far?

143
00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.639
Well, yeah, he's contended this whole time that he's had

144
00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:14.919
no contact with this kid, you know, as a minor,

145
00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.120
and that's a lie. Those fun records indicate that he

146
00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:18.919
pursued her.

147
00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:22.240
Have you talked to her about her relationship with him?

148
00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:26.360
Have you said, are you having sex with this man?

149
00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:27.559
And if so, what did she say?

150
00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.080
They both contended it was platonic, that he was a

151
00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:34.840
father figure, that it wasn't sexual of nature. She's had

152
00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:37.600
a boyfriend up until a month ago, a four year

153
00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:40.639
relationship with a boy her age. So I had no

154
00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.039
indication that this was other than what she said?

155
00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:47.559
When is your earliest indication that it was a romantic.

156
00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:51.440
Relationship, a romantic Not until I knew that they had

157
00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:53.360
gone to hotels and actually had sex.

158
00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.480
I just didn't believe. I didn't believe any of it.

159
00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:58.720
And when was that? When did you find out?

160
00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:03.480
That was the morning that she moved out. I didn't know.

161
00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:06.799
She'll tell you then that she had had sex with

162
00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:08.639
him and that it was true.

163
00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:10.159
And that did she tell you when?

164
00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:13.399
No, she was talking about the hotels and I said,

165
00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:14.639
you stayed in hotels with him?

166
00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.039
And she said I did.

167
00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.639
And this is while she was a student.

168
00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:19.200
This is while she was a student.

169
00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:20.759
But after she was eighteen.

170
00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:21.679
But after she was eighteen?

171
00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:24.720
Okay, And what do you think about your daughter's point

172
00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.879
of view? She says, No, I'm in love. What you

173
00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:29.360
know your daughter? What do you think?

174
00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.080
She's a child. It's a child's perspective. She's in love

175
00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:34.279
and next week she could be in love with someone else.

176
00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:36.320
I don't think she understands the magnitude of this.

177
00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:38.840
Who is my boo?

178
00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:40.840
That's James Hooker.

179
00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:44.279
He was listed in her phone under my boo, so

180
00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.679
that other students wouldn't realize they were texting back and

181
00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:47.600
forth in class.

182
00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.200
And your older daughter says that she saw a text

183
00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:56.360
message between them in January. I believe it was what

184
00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.399
did it say, I'll love.

185
00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.639
You forever, something to the effect that if I can

186
00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:03.279
get away, I don't know if I can text you.

187
00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:05.600
And she brought it to my attention.

188
00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:08.480
I think there's something going on with Jordan and mister Hooker,

189
00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:12.240
And I said, I don't think so. You know, he's

190
00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:14.799
a church going family man, and I don't think that

191
00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:15.600
this is happening.

192
00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.399
Now, tell me about the promise ring that said love

193
00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:20.279
Waite that she was wearing over the summer.

194
00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.960
Well, I didn't physically see it. I didn't see it myself,

195
00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.679
but her boyfriend said that he would she would take

196
00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:27.440
off her promised to ring with him and put this

197
00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:31.000
ring on. And she said, my nana, my grandma bought it.

198
00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:33.159
I called my mom and said, did you send this

199
00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:35.600
kid a ring? She said, I didn't send her a ring.

200
00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:37.320
And you think the ring came from him?

201
00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:39.000
I do you don't know that.

202
00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.200
I don't know for a fact.

203
00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.000
I don't know for a fact, but it was unmentionable

204
00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:44.720
that I'm finding stuff out daily.

205
00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:48.519
Well, he says that you are very hostile towards him,

206
00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:51.159
which I can certainly understand. I am, And that this

207
00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.840
thing is spiral out of control because you have started

208
00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:54.799
a smear campaign.

209
00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:57.360
Well it has spiral. It spiraled a lot.

210
00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:03.120
But I tried civilly administratively, and I was at a

211
00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:07.320
point where high emotions create a level of irrationality. Either

212
00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:10.200
I go to jail, I get arrested, or I try

213
00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:11.000
a different forum.

214
00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:14.360
You have said at one point that you wanted to

215
00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:15.080
stab him.

216
00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:17.039
I did. I did.

217
00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:20.279
I said, he's not coming here, You're not going with him.

218
00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.200
If he comes into my home, I will stab him.

219
00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:25.759
And that was, you know, based on emotion, but I

220
00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:26.399
felt that way.

221
00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.720
So your belief just so unclear about this. Your belief

222
00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:34.639
is so you think he's violated his duties as an

223
00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:37.679
educator and as a teacher. Absolutely, whether she was eighteen

224
00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:38.360
or nine, he was.

225
00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:40.720
In a position of authority. I entrusted him with my

226
00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:43.840
child and that's not okay. He knew better, and he

227
00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:47.519
was impulsive and selfish, and he's acted upon it.

228
00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:51.080
I want to talk with them. I would like to

229
00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:54.360
have you there. Are you willing to come out and

230
00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:56.159
sit with us and talk about this.

231
00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:58.200
I will, I'll come out.

232
00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.039
So a couple of things. With that last clip that

233
00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:04.840
you heard first, I think mom is dead on here,

234
00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.879
no doubt this girl was being groomed in my mind

235
00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:12.639
prior to the age of eighteen, and she handled it

236
00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.679
the way that I'm sure most would. And again, this

237
00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:20.279
guy has a daughter who goes to the same damn

238
00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.879
school and is seventeen years old, just about the same

239
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:28.279
age as the girl that he has left his whole

240
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:32.639
family for. What is wrong with this guy that he

241
00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:36.799
would even look at this newly turned eighteen year old

242
00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:41.679
practically the same age as his daughter and be sexually attracted.

243
00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.399
I don't get it. Look I have twenty year old daughters, y'all,

244
00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.399
and it is the God's honest truth. I can't look

245
00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.200
at twenty year old's the same way I did fifteen

246
00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:55.120
years ago or twenty years ago. I see my daughters

247
00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.720
now and I see girls that age, and it just

248
00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:01.399
looks like my daughter's friend. It just ain't in me.

249
00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:05.879
I just don't understand that mentality. It's gross to me.

250
00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:10.840
And another thing I found interesting about this episode, Mama powers.

251
00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:14.120
I know y'all can't see her when you're listening to

252
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:17.240
this podcast, but I will for sure post a few

253
00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:21.039
picks of her on the Patreon mom powers. She looks

254
00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:23.799
to be around the same age as this guy. She's

255
00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:28.879
probably maybe mid forties something like that, and she is

256
00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:34.320
a very attractive woman. And the whole time, I'm thinking, Okay,

257
00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:38.000
you got this man sitting across from you, the forty

258
00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:42.080
one year old teacher, and the daughter's sitting on the

259
00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:47.159
side of him. And if i'm him, I'm looking at

260
00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:50.639
the mother. I'm not looking at the daughter. The mother's

261
00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:54.679
a smoke show. Quite frankly, just blew my mind that

262
00:14:54.759 --> 00:15:00.440
this guy just I can't relate, y'all. It bothered. I

263
00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:04.240
don't get the mentality. It's just sick. So this Doctor

264
00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:08.039
Phil show airs And that was March thirteenth of twenty twelve,

265
00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:12.159
and look, as crazy as it sounds, not only then

266
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:18.080
did California not have a law banning student teacher relationships

267
00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:20.679
when the student is an eighteen year old high schooler.

268
00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.480
But even now in twenty twenty five, they still don't

269
00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:28.279
have a law, although most other states do, and we've

270
00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:31.879
talked about a lot of those on the Bad Teacher series. Now,

271
00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:35.039
it was not long later, as a matter of fact,

272
00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:39.679
less than a month later, when James Hooker was arrested,

273
00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:42.960
but it had nothing to do with his relationship with

274
00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.200
Jordan Powers. As a matter of fact, it had to

275
00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.960
do with a relationship that allegedly occurred much much earlier,

276
00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:55.399
way back in nineteen ninety eight, when he allegedly committed

277
00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:59.879
oral sex on a seventeen year old female student that

278
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.879
he was teaching in his early years of teaching. Now,

279
00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.559
apparently this young lady who chose to identify herself her

280
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:13.000
name was Michelle Miller. She got the courage to do that,

281
00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.639
to come out and tell her story from watching the

282
00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:21.399
Doctor Phil episode and just watched this guy act as

283
00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.639
if he had never done this stuff before, and he

284
00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:27.200
was just a stand up citizen who happened to be

285
00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:30.360
in love with this eighteen year old girl and left

286
00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.679
his wife and his family all because of love. It

287
00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:36.960
must have just sickened her, and she came out and

288
00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.039
she told her story. Well, as you can imagine, this

289
00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:44.679
doesn't sit too well with Jordan, his eighteen year old

290
00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:49.240
current girlfriend at this time, and he calls her after

291
00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:53.279
he's arrested from the jail, and according to her, she

292
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.799
went on good morning America, and she said that she

293
00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:00.759
felt betrayed and that her heart dropped when she found

294
00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.440
out about this, and that she told him when he

295
00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:06.720
called her from the jail, hey, we are done. She

296
00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:11.160
also said she regretted the relationship, that she had lost

297
00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.119
everything for this guy, including her senior year of high school,

298
00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:22.599
her friends, and a normal high school experience. However, this

299
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:26.960
guy is such a good manipulator that they did briefly

300
00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:32.839
reconcile after that, And on November six of twenty twelve,

301
00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:37.359
James Hooker appears for his plea hearing in that case

302
00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:41.000
regarding the oral sex back in nineteen ninety eight, and

303
00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:45.960
he of course pleaded not guilty, and by his side

304
00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:49.799
in that hearing was none other than Jordan Powers. Now

305
00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:53.160
I'm going to reference an article quickly, and this is

306
00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.240
from midb dot com. A former Modesto school teacher appeared

307
00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:01.519
in court Tuesday with his teenage girlfriend and pleaded not

308
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:05.200
guilty to an allegation of having a sexual relationship with

309
00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:09.000
a seventeen year old girl fourteen years ago. A judge

310
00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:13.119
last month ruled that there was enough evidence for James Hooker,

311
00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:17.000
now forty two, of Modesto, to stand trial on one

312
00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:22.119
count of committing oral copulation with a person younger than eighteen,

313
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:26.240
stemming from an alleged incident in the summer of nineteen

314
00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.720
ninety eight. The alleged victim, now a thirty one year

315
00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:34.039
old woman, testified in Hooker's preliminary hearing that the defendant

316
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.359
performed oral sex on her at his mother's rural house

317
00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:41.759
near Turlock. Tuesday morning, the defendant briefly appeared in the

318
00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:45.640
Stanislaus County Superior Court for his arraignment. He arrived at

319
00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.599
the courthouse with his girlfriend, Jordan Powers. Hooker gained national

320
00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.519
attention earlier this year when he left his wife and

321
00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:55.960
three daughters and quit his job as a business teacher

322
00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:58.880
at Hen's High School to move in with Powers, an

323
00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.839
eighteen year old former student. He has not been charged

324
00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:06.119
with any potential misconduct stemming from his relationship with Powers.

325
00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:10.000
Mary Lynn Belcher, Hooker's defense attorney asked the judge for

326
00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:13.200
more time before he schedules a date to start the trial.

327
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.200
Hooker said he needs more time to gather enough money

328
00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:19.480
to retain his attorney to represent him in that trial.

329
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:24.839
Detectives initially began to investigate Hooker in January after Tammy

330
00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:29.440
Powers reported an inappropriate relationship between her daughter and Hooker,

331
00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:32.480
who was then a teacher at Knox High School. Jordan

332
00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:35.400
Powers moved in with Hooker on February twenty second, the

333
00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:39.880
day he resigned from Modesto County Schools. During that investigation,

334
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:43.519
the detectives learned of the alleged victim from nineteen ninety eight.

335
00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:46.960
She told police she was involved in a romantic relationship

336
00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.640
with Hooker that summer after she graduated from high school.

337
00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.279
She testified that she met Hooker at a Future Business

338
00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:57.759
Leaders of America conference and he was a business teacher

339
00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:01.200
at Davis High. She was a senior at bay Or High.

340
00:20:01.400 --> 00:20:04.319
A few weeks after the alleged sexual encounter at her

341
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.599
mother's house in August in nineteen ninety eight, Hooker ended

342
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.000
the relationship, the woman said. She testified that he told

343
00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:15.279
her his wife had discovered an email that revealed the affair.

344
00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:21.200
So that case drags out until twenty fourteen. And look

345
00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:24.720
this victim, and I'm gonna call her a victim because

346
00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:28.839
that is what she was. She had one heck of

347
00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.000
an attorney that I have talked about before. She was

348
00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:37.759
represented by Gloria Alred, who has made a living representing

349
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.640
female victims of sexual crimes. So I'm going to reference

350
00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:45.839
two articles here. The first is for myb dot com

351
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:50.000
and it covers Michelle Miller speaking out after the sentencing

352
00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:54.279
hearing for James Hooker, who, when the dust settled, pleaded

353
00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.319
no contest to those charges. And then I'm going to

354
00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:01.880
quote a statement released by Glory. Gloria Allread in the

355
00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:06.000
article reads Michelle Miller's hand quivered as she tightly held

356
00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:09.680
a written statement explaining how, at seventeen years old, she

357
00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:13.279
became involved in a sexual relationship with a modesto teacher.

358
00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:17.720
She met Hooker at a Future Business Leaders of America conference.

359
00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:20.319
He was then a business teacher at Davis High School.

360
00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:22.839
She was a senior at bay Or High Quote. There

361
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:25.680
were no warning signs I could see, Miller said while

362
00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:30.000
reading her victim impact statement. James Hooker didn't act like

363
00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:33.720
a predator. She said. She suffered from depression, had lost

364
00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.960
contact with her friends, and her boyfriend had moved two

365
00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:40.640
hours away for a job. Miller said she was vulnerable

366
00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:44.720
and Hooker took advantage of that vulnerability. Quote. The person

367
00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.559
responsible is James Hooker, she said. Hooker, now a former

368
00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:52.720
teacher was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest earlier this

369
00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:56.079
week to misdemeanor charges of having oral sex with Miller

370
00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:58.920
fifteen years ago. He has been ordered to register as

371
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:01.119
a sex offender for a wife life and served four

372
00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:05.000
years of probation. The defendants sat quietly in the courtroom

373
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:08.640
as Miller read her statement. He admitted to performing oral

374
00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:12.039
sex on Miller, but Hooker has maintained he did not

375
00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:16.720
know she was underage. Bullshit. Leaving court after the sentencing,

376
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:21.240
Hooker's defense attorney, Mary Lynn Belscher told photographers get away

377
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:24.680
from my client and called them rude. She didn't make

378
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:28.039
any comments about the conclusion of the case. Hooker did

379
00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:31.400
not make any statements during the hearing or afterward, as

380
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.200
he and his nineteen year old girlfriend and former student,

381
00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:38.200
Jordan Powers were followed by news cameras out of the courthouse.

382
00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:42.880
The couple's relationship game national media last year, which prompted

383
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.880
Miller to finally tell her style of the story. During

384
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:50.720
an investigation into Hooker's relationship with Powers, detective learned of Miller.

385
00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:54.400
She told detectives she had a romantic relationship with Hooker

386
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:57.480
that the summer after she graduated from high school. A

387
00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:00.559
few weeks after the sexual encounter at her mother's house

388
00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:04.680
near Turlock in August of nineteen ninety eight, Hooker ended

389
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.839
the relationship. She testified that Hooker told her his wife

390
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.720
had discovered an email that revealed the affair. Miller first

391
00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:16.559
learned of Hooker's relationship with another high school student last

392
00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:19.240
year when she spotted a link to a news story

393
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.440
on a friend's Facebook page. In her victim impact statement,

394
00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.279
she said she discovered Hooker was not even able to

395
00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:28.880
end his marriage with integrity before starting that relationship with

396
00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:33.240
another teenager. Quote, I felt instantly sick as I waited

397
00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.279
for the news article to load. Miller said he had

398
00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:38.799
become a repeat offender, and I felt it would not

399
00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:43.119
him with Jordan Powers. Miller, now thirty two, read her

400
00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:46.240
statement while standing near the jury box in the council

401
00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:50.960
table facing the judge. Celebrity attorney Gloria Alred stood by

402
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:56.039
her side. Allread represented Miller and attended Hooker's October preliminary hearing.

403
00:23:56.200 --> 00:23:59.119
Miller had been identified in court as Jane Doe, but

404
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:02.079
her attorney said her client gave her permission a revealer

405
00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:06.799
name to news media gathered outside the courthouse. So now

406
00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:10.119
I'm going to get into the statement that Gloria already

407
00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:15.240
released regarding the Michelle Miller case. Also very important and

408
00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:18.480
it said today James Hooker was sentenced after he entered

409
00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:21.480
a plea of no contest to a misdemeanor charge of

410
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:25.640
oral copulation of a minor. I represent the victim in

411
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.720
this case, Michelle Miller, who has given me permission to

412
00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:31.720
use her name and reveal her identity to the public.

413
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.039
Miss Miller is now thirty two years old. She was

414
00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:38.119
seventeen when she met James Hooker. He was at the

415
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.200
time a business teacher at Davis High School and she

416
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:44.640
was a senior at another high school. But she met

417
00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:47.519
him because he was an adult chaperom for her and

418
00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:51.440
another student who had been selected to attend a Future

419
00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.079
Business Leaders of America conference in Florida. At the time,

420
00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:58.559
the victim was extremely vulnerable because of the challenges she

421
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:01.960
was facing in her personal lif Mister Hooker, like many

422
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:06.720
sexual predators must have since that vulnerability in taken advantage

423
00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:10.160
of it. He began a romantic relationship with Michelle, even

424
00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:13.759
though he was still married. Mister Hooker has recently admitted

425
00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:16.759
through a stipulation in court in advance of his trial

426
00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:20.000
that he did perform oral sex on my client, the

427
00:25:20.119 --> 00:25:23.319
victim in this case. Prior to the criminal case, mister

428
00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:26.440
Hooker has been on the news last year because of

429
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:30.920
his relationship with another high school student, Jordan Powers. Mister Hooker,

430
00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:33.480
at the time of the relationship, was still married and

431
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:36.759
was forty one years old. He also appeared on Good

432
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:40.400
Morning America in Doctor Phil which he seemed to revelent it,

433
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.720
while the mother of Jordan Powers was visibly upset that

434
00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:47.240
mister Hooker, a married man approximately twenty three years older

435
00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:52.240
than her daughter, was engaging in a relationship with her daughter. Today,

436
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:55.799
mister Hooker no longer appears to be smiling with about

437
00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:59.200
his relationship with another young woman, the victim in this case.

438
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.240
Because of courage, mister Hooker was charged with felony oral

439
00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:07.240
copulation of a minor under the age of eighteen. It

440
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.000
was only on the eve of the trial that the defendant,

441
00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:13.599
mister Hooker, entered a plea which is tantamount to a

442
00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:16.839
plea of guilty and for which he has been sentenced.

443
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.920
The sentence includes a requirement that mister Hooker must register

444
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.680
as a sex offender, and it places restrictions on his

445
00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:26.200
contacts with minors under the age of eighteen. The requirement

446
00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:28.880
that mister Hooker must register as a sex offender was

447
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:32.119
extremely important to my client, and because this was a

448
00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:35.359
condition of the plea, Michelle has agreed to the plea

449
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:38.480
being offered in lieu of a trial. I am extremely

450
00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:42.880
proud of Michelle. She has demonstrated enormous courage in reporting

451
00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:46.519
mister Hooker's criminal conduct to law enforcement. She did so

452
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.680
because she felt that was her duty to report a

453
00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:52.279
crime against a minor. She has paid a high price

454
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:55.960
emotionally for performing her duty. Some people who have no

455
00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:59.119
knowledge of what she suffered because of mister Hooker's criminal

456
00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:03.559
conduct towards her, have mistakenly criticized her for coming forward. However,

457
00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:07.079
she understood that if she had evidence regarding this defendant,

458
00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:10.000
she should share it with law enforcement and allow them

459
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.160
to determine its value or lack of it in the

460
00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.319
criminal justice system. Because she has done the right thing,

461
00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:20.240
other children will now receive a measure of protection and

462
00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:23.200
mister Hooker will be recognized for the predator that he

463
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:26.880
is now. Mister Hooker has been sentenced. Michelle is no

464
00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:31.039
longer a victim. She is now empowered and an inspirational survivor.

465
00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:34.039
I have been honored to have been able to support

466
00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:36.680
her in her journey. She has been an inspiration to

467
00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.680
me and many others who have been the victims of

468
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:46.160
sexual predatory misconduct by adults. And that's Gloria Allred's statement.

469
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:49.720
So at this point in Hooker's life, his eighteen year

470
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:54.799
old girlfriend Jordan Powers Incidentally, she did see the light

471
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:58.079
at some point and she leaves him, and he had

472
00:27:58.119 --> 00:28:00.799
already left his first wife of twenty years and three

473
00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:03.440
kids to be with her. And he now has a

474
00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:07.119
record of no contest to oral sex with a minor.

475
00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:11.319
He can't even be around minors as far as a

476
00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:14.240
job is concerned. This guy has just made a huge

477
00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:17.920
mess of his life. And you would think that will

478
00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:22.160
be it right, No way. One thing I can tell

479
00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:27.160
you about these type of predators, In my personal opinion,

480
00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:31.440
it is never it for them. This is, in my opinion,

481
00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:35.480
a sickness that has no cure, and these type of

482
00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:38.759
predators never stop. And so it would come to no

483
00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:42.960
surprise for me that years later James Hooker would make

484
00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:48.119
the national news again when it is discovered the now

485
00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:53.279
fifty five year old was discovered to have married an

486
00:28:53.319 --> 00:28:57.319
eighteen year old girl by the name of Autumn Rose.

487
00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:01.079
So prepare yourself because what I'm i about to tell

488
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:05.319
you about it is going to shock you. So allegedly,

489
00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:10.079
James Hooker met Onum Rose when she was fifteen years old.

490
00:29:10.839 --> 00:29:15.960
And all predators hunt for prey, He's no different. And

491
00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:19.599
where do they hunt for their prey? Social media? As

492
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:22.160
I said, she was fifteen years old, she was a

493
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:27.799
middle school student, and allegedly he misrepresented himself to her

494
00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:31.680
at the time, basically catfished her, and he told her

495
00:29:31.799 --> 00:29:35.359
he was in his early twenties and he worked for

496
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:39.200
the US Postal Service. So there is not much out

497
00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:43.880
there on what occurred over the next several years after

498
00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:49.160
they met, but it speculated that they started soon having

499
00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:54.559
sex after he initiated that initial contact with Autumn. And

500
00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:59.319
there's a reason why that speculated with evidence backing it.

501
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:04.920
So Autumn turns eighteen and they get married, and this

502
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:08.759
is just in twenty twenty three, a couple of years ago. Well,

503
00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:15.839
nothing significant occurs until the following year, when in September

504
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:21.319
of twenty twenty four, Hooker gets arrested on two charges. Now,

505
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:26.200
count one was leude and lascivious acts on a child

506
00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:31.720
age fourteen to fifteen, and the other was possession of

507
00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:37.759
child pornography. Now, it's reported that a totally different minor

508
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:44.200
contacted police after Hooker said minor pictures of him engaging

509
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:49.759
in sex acts with Autumn Rose when she was fifteen

510
00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:53.559
years old. Now, how did police confirm this? Well, they

511
00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:57.640
spoke to Autumn Rose, who admitted to the timeframe when

512
00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:02.160
these pictures were taken. And so Hooker, James Hooker, finally

513
00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:06.119
gets arrested. Autumn Rose is, of course the star witness

514
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:11.039
because she is the only one that could definitively confirm

515
00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:14.759
that time frame. Right, Hooker goes to court. He pleads

516
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:18.160
not guilty in an arrayment, of course, because you have

517
00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:20.960
nothing to lose when you plead not guilty in an arrayment.

518
00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:25.799
He makes bell. And here's where everything gets really strange.

519
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:31.000
In late twenty twenty four, there's a hearing because James

520
00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:35.680
Hooker files some sort of restraining order against Autumn Rose.

521
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:40.720
Now and said hearing, Autumn Rose tells the judge she

522
00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:43.240
was kind of surprised to hear that he even wanted

523
00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:46.839
to file a restraining order because she had been asking

524
00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:51.240
for a divorce for months. Well, an order is put

525
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:56.160
into place, and somewhere over the preceding month, Hooker and

526
00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:00.880
Autumn Rose apparently reconcile, and remember he is the star

527
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:05.799
witness in this case. But the restrainting order at some

528
00:32:05.880 --> 00:32:10.440
point apparently gets dropped and they move back in together.

529
00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:14.920
And a few months pass, and in July of twenty

530
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.960
twenty five, Autumn Rose, who at this point is twenty

531
00:32:18.039 --> 00:32:23.359
years old, get ready for this, is found dead at

532
00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:28.039
the home that she shares with James Hooker. Now, this

533
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:34.039
was just days away from her testimony in James Hooker's trial.

534
00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:38.519
So the state at this point they drop the first count,

535
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:43.359
the major count against James Hooker in that indictment, the

536
00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:47.720
loot and lascibius acts with a minor because there was

537
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:52.119
no witness now who could verify the age of Autumn

538
00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:56.279
Rose at the time that these pictures were taken. Now,

539
00:32:56.319 --> 00:32:59.920
the corner in this case finds that the cause of

540
00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:05.079
death was alcohol related liver failure. Basically, a twenty year

541
00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:11.680
old who drank herself to death just days before her testimony. Man,

542
00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:15.160
that just does not sit right with me. The timing

543
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:18.440
is impeccable to me, and it didn't sit right with

544
00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:21.720
her family either. And I'm going to reference one more

545
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:25.440
article today and it is where her family spoke out

546
00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:29.359
on just that put out by the Modesto b on

547
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.359
July eighteenth of twenty twenty five, and it says the

548
00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:35.319
death of a twenty year old Turlock woman has forced

549
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:39.119
prosecutors to drop a key charge against James Hooker, the

550
00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:43.880
former Modesto teacher and notoriously accused of grooming teenage girls.

551
00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:47.799
Her family said the decision has left it without justice.

552
00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:50.559
On Amrose, the woman at the center of the case,

553
00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:54.319
was found dead in early July while under Hooker's care.

554
00:33:54.759 --> 00:33:58.880
Authorities initially deemed her des suspicious, but a subsequent au

555
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:02.319
types he ruled it to be health related, likely due

556
00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:06.799
to the alcohol related liver failure that according to Stanislaus

557
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:10.920
County Deputy da Ros, had been scheduled to testify this

558
00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:15.280
week in a child molestation case against Hooker. Prosecutors say Hooker,

559
00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:18.719
now fifty five, began a sexual relationship with her when

560
00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:22.760
she was fifteen. The two later married after she turned eighteen,

561
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:26.719
but without her testimony, the district attorney said. Prosecutors didn't

562
00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:29.880
have enough evidence to proceed. One of the charges of

563
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:35.000
felony child molestation count was dismissed after her death. Quote.

564
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:37.719
We can sometimes go forward without a victim, like in

565
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:41.800
homicide cases, but due to special circumstances in this case,

566
00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:45.159
weren't able to do that. Hooker still faces a felony

567
00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:49.199
charge for possession of child pornography involving images of Rose

568
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:52.039
as a minor. He is not in custody. In his

569
00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:55.800
scheduled to return to court August twenty six. Ros's mother,

570
00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:59.480
Marina Goodzala's said that her daughter told her she first

571
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:02.719
met Hooker on social media when she was fifteen. Quote

572
00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:05.559
he presented himself as a man in his early twenties

573
00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:08.599
who worked for the US Postal Service. I didn't know

574
00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:12.400
who he really was until after she turned eighteen, Gonzale said.

575
00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:15.320
But by then she was already in deep and if

576
00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:17.880
I had pushed her too hard, I was afraid I

577
00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:21.000
was going to lose her completely. It wasn't until Gonzales

578
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:24.159
and roses father, Matthew Rose, did their own research they

579
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:27.280
learned the truth. Hooker had made national headlines in twenty

580
00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:31.360
twelve after resigning from Enoch High School after his relationship

581
00:35:31.400 --> 00:35:35.280
with an eighteen year old student, Jordan Powers, became public. Hooker,

582
00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:38.039
then forty one, left his wife and children that lived

583
00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:41.239
with Powers. Though no charges were filed in that case,

584
00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:46.000
the scandal attracted widespread media attention. According to Gonzalez, Hooker

585
00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:50.519
reference Powers to Rose in conversations, comparing the two girls

586
00:35:50.559 --> 00:35:53.400
as a way to manipulate and control her. Quote that

587
00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:56.719
was his mind game, she said. Rose's family described the

588
00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:00.840
relationship as isolating in Coerzo, Her parents said Hooker controlled

589
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:04.800
her internet access and social life, alienating her from family

590
00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:08.679
and friends, and kept her under constant watch. Quote when

591
00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:11.719
the Turlough Police Department says to you, oh, yes, that

592
00:36:11.800 --> 00:36:15.800
house is well known to us, that's heartbreaking. Gonzalez said.

593
00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:20.079
Something should have been done a long time ago. Both

594
00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:23.239
parents say that Rose had no real story of alcohol

595
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:27.000
use and did not like taking medications, which made the

596
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:30.800
cause of death especially hard to accept. Quote she told

597
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:33.880
me he gave her alcohol and that she didn't even

598
00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:38.159
like taking aspirin, said Matthew Rose. Quote Now they say

599
00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:41.400
she drank herself to death, and I just don't believe that.

600
00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:45.280
Prosecutors said investigators found no evidence of foul play. Quote

601
00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:48.639
the au types. He showed she died of health related causes.

602
00:36:48.679 --> 00:36:53.000
Emerson said that's the DA, but Gonzalez isn't convinced. Even

603
00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:55.400
if he didn't kill her directly, he let her die.

604
00:36:55.559 --> 00:36:57.719
He was her husband, he had a duty of care

605
00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:01.400
and he did nothing. Complicating that is a restraining order

606
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:04.440
by Hooker against Rose, stemming from a prior to domestic

607
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.440
violence case. Though the order was active earlier this year,

608
00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:10.599
court records indicate the two were still living together at

609
00:37:10.599 --> 00:37:13.519
the time of her death. Her parents were stunned by

610
00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:19.280
the situation, particularly because the order originated under troubling circumstances.

611
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:23.480
According to Matthew, Hooker provoked Autumn Rose into slapping him

612
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:26.079
so he could file the order. Quote he got her

613
00:37:26.119 --> 00:37:28.480
to slap him, He said. He used it against her

614
00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:31.559
as another way to controller. In at twenty twenty four

615
00:37:31.639 --> 00:37:35.440
court hearing, Gonzales recalled her daughter, telling the judge she

616
00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:38.800
had been asking Hooker for a divorce from months. Hooker

617
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:43.079
later dropped the restraining order after allegedly contacting Autumn Rose

618
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:47.280
despite claiming to fear for his safety. Gonzalez believes that

619
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:50.000
her daughter was beginning to realize the extent of the

620
00:37:50.039 --> 00:37:53.000
abuse she started to see it, her mother said, but

621
00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:56.440
then he got back in her head again. Both parents

622
00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:58.840
hoped that the criminal case against Hooker would lead to

623
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:03.440
justice and supper. Autumn Rose had given prior statements to police,

624
00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:06.519
and her mother assumed that would be enough to move forward.

625
00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:09.360
Quote when they dropped that charge, I was in shock,

626
00:38:09.480 --> 00:38:12.800
Gonzalah said. No one even told us beforehand. I've been

627
00:38:12.840 --> 00:38:15.519
at every court hearing Hooker has been at and we

628
00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:19.559
weren't even given the basic respect. Onumn Ros's aunt, Mandy

629
00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:23.239
Mitchell said, the timing of her death is no coincidence. Quote.

630
00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:25.639
The one person who could have put him away forever

631
00:38:25.880 --> 00:38:28.960
is dead. She said, how many more little girls have

632
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.679
to be ripped of their innocence or even dead before

633
00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:35.000
something is done? For now, Roses parents are left with

634
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:40.400
questions and grief in the determination to protect our legacy.

635
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:44.480
I couldn't agree more with that. So, as you can imagine,

636
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:48.159
the media is all over this and the questions regarding

637
00:38:48.199 --> 00:38:50.920
her death, the timing of it, all of that. It

638
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:54.239
puts a lot of pressure on the Stanislaus County District

639
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:58.400
Attorney's office and they are kind of forced, in my opinion,

640
00:38:58.599 --> 00:39:03.079
to look at this case again. So on November seventeenth

641
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:05.400
of twenty twenty five, just a little over a month

642
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:09.320
from this recording, they announced that after a further review,

643
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:13.280
they are restating that initial first charge against Hooker and

644
00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:16.840
in March of twenty twenty six, a hearing will be

645
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.440
the first public presentation of evidence to determine if the

646
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:26.320
case proceeds to trial. Deputy District Attorney Harshan Samra declined

647
00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:31.440
to detail reinstatement reasons due to the ongoing investigation, but

648
00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:35.239
he did urge potential victims to contact authorities have nights

649
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:39.000
of you. He needed the challenge of victimless prosecutions, but

650
00:39:39.079 --> 00:39:43.599
affirmed sufficient evidence exists and thank the family for the patients,

651
00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:47.480
stating justice takes time now. The father, Matthew Rose, said,

652
00:39:47.559 --> 00:39:50.639
I'm glad they reinstated the charges. There's a hole in

653
00:39:50.679 --> 00:39:53.880
my heart that will never be felled. I miss her terribly.

654
00:39:54.719 --> 00:39:57.880
Marine A Gonzalez, her mother, said, it gave me a

655
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:01.039
little bit of hope that what happened Autumn isn't going

656
00:40:01.079 --> 00:40:04.159
to be swept aside. Justice for Autumn is what our

657
00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:08.400
father and I are fighting for. We feel discussed in sadness,

658
00:40:08.760 --> 00:40:12.719
noting the slow legal process James Hooker. Of course, he

659
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:15.920
didn't make any public statement, and he refused to comment

660
00:40:16.039 --> 00:40:19.320
when he was approached and asked for a comment. So,

661
00:40:19.960 --> 00:40:23.760
as of this recording December twenty ninth, twenty twenty five,

662
00:40:24.360 --> 00:40:28.639
the case is on going in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

663
00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:32.599
Hooker remains out of custody on bond. Now he is

664
00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:37.559
facing both reinstated charges, and the next steps include the

665
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:41.199
case management hearing that occurs on February twenty third of

666
00:40:41.239 --> 00:40:45.079
twenty twenty six, and then a preliminary examination on March

667
00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:48.880
sixteenth of twenty twenty six, where evidence will be presented

668
00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:52.280
publicly for the first time. I will definitely keep you

669
00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:56.559
updated on all that now. Personally, just my opinion, but

670
00:40:56.679 --> 00:41:00.840
I would encourage the family of Autumn to have a

671
00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:06.159
private autopsy done. Something just doesn't sit right with me

672
00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:11.000
at all regarding the initial corner's findings. Look, people make mistakes.

673
00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:15.599
It's possible a mistake could have been made here, something

674
00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:19.559
could have been missed. A second opinion never hurts, and

675
00:41:19.599 --> 00:41:23.400
I know these types of things are very costly, but

676
00:41:23.480 --> 00:41:26.199
maybe they can get a go fundme going or something,

677
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:29.719
because there's a lot of eyes on this case, probably

678
00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:32.679
a lot of people willing to donate some money to

679
00:41:32.760 --> 00:41:35.880
get that done. I would look into that. If the

680
00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:38.719
family of Autumn Rose is listening to this, and if

681
00:41:38.760 --> 00:41:41.840
you'd like to come on the podcast, I would love

682
00:41:42.119 --> 00:41:45.079
to do an interview with you and get your side

683
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:48.079
of this. As for James Hooker, I hope it's as

684
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:52.360
clear to everyone else as it is to me. Just

685
00:41:52.519 --> 00:41:56.280
my opinion, but I don't think this guy's ever gonna stop.

686
00:41:56.360 --> 00:41:59.159
In my view, I think he needs to be locked

687
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:02.199
up and he needs to be dealt with. Just saying

688
00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:06.239
my opinion. My opinion only it's for everybody else. Thank

689
00:42:06.280 --> 00:42:09.480
you so much for listening. Check out the Patreon Patreon

690
00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:13.679
dot com Slash Exposed podcast files, commercial free early releases,

691
00:42:13.719 --> 00:42:17.679
bonus episodes, quarterly gifts for our top tier members. I

692
00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:20.639
drop all kinds of files and pictures and everything else

693
00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:23.880
on that page that you can't get anywhere else. You

694
00:42:23.920 --> 00:42:26.599
can actually sign up for as little as two dollars

695
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:30.440
and fifty cents a week, which I hope you find

696
00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:33.800
worth the price of admission. I could not do it.

697
00:42:33.880 --> 00:42:36.280
I could not do this show without all of my

698
00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:40.840
celebrity members. As I lovingly refer to these people, as

699
00:42:41.320 --> 00:42:43.400
I couldn't do it without them. The show is just

700
00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:46.639
too expensive to run. So thank you so much to

701
00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:50.719
all my celebrity members on Patreon, I love you more

702
00:42:50.760 --> 00:42:55.239
than you know. And until next time for exposed scandalous

703
00:42:55.280 --> 00:42:59.280
files of the elite, I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,